When Giovanni Santiago first took the 1,800-mile journey from his hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to Cincinnati in 2015, his family was on his mind.

His motivation to be better came from them, and Santiago kept a picture of his family by his bed in Cincinnati to remind him of why he was putting in all of the hard work while playing for the Hughes boys basketball team. With every tweet he writes, basketball related or not, he adds the hashtag #IDOTHISFORMYFAMILY.

Santiago's never-ending grind took him to new heights over the last two years, but none higher than Wednesday, when he was officially named to Puerto Rico's U18 National Team.

"It's a great feeling and what can I say? I really don't know how else to describe it," Santiago said with a laugh. "I just feel really proud and blessed for the honor of being selected to join the national team of my country."

Santiago didn't have much time to celebrate his graduation from Hughes May 21. Just hours after receiving his diploma, he was on a plane to Puerto Rico trying to make it to the national team tryouts in time.

"They called me and said when tryouts were, so I flied to Puerto Rico and that's how the process started. I started practice with them May 22. We practiced every single day," Santiago explained. "When they announced the official team, I was just excited and proud of all the work I've put into the game. It's just a blessing to play for your country."

It's been a great first half of 2018 for Hughes head coach Bryan Wyant. A district championship, his first player to go pro and now Santiago's news of making the national club.

Wyant had the benefit of seeing Santiago's improvement first-hand over the last two years. As a senior last season, in his second year with Hughes, Santiago averaged 15.1 points per game and led the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference in assists, helping anchor the Big Red to a second-straight 20-win season and their first district championship since 2013.

Santiago opened the year with a career-high 33 points against Woodward and had a pair of triple-doubles in Hughes' Christmas break trip to Florida.

"I think the biggest benefit he took from Hughes is the pace of the game. We play at a fast pace in our league," Wyant said. "He already had a great skill set but now he's kind of able to showcase his talent in a fast-pace environment. He brought a lot of leadership to the table for us and was able to lead and keep this program rolling."

Santiago is one of those players who never shies away from the big-time moment and always saves his best for crunch time. Last March, Santiago scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to help Hughes outlast Woodward in the regional semifinal.

Whether it's tournament time or playing against a big-time recruit, Santiago was always ready to prove he had the ability to play with the best, despite being on the outside looking in for much of his high school career on the recruiting circuit.

"For us, he always shined best in big games. He's the kinda kid who relishes in those moments," Wyant said. "We talked on the phone last night and he was telling me how excited he was to play against the U.S. National Team. He said Canada is gonna have R.J. Barrett, the No. 1 player in the class of 2018. He said 'coach, I just can't wait to get on the floor against the highest-ranked guys.' He is highly motivated to display that he can play at that level."

"He's a great play-maker off the pick-and-roll and in transition," Wyant said. "He said they have some very talented bigs, guys who are gonna go play Division I basketball. He can shoot the ball, but more importantly his ability to distribute and get those guys the ball is something that they really love."

Santiago said he is keeping his options open for colleges and is looking into prep schools. For now, though, his sights are set on Thursday, when his team travels to Canada for the FIBA U18 Americas Championship, which begins on Sunday.

Puerto Rico is grouped with national teams from the United States, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Santiago said about playing in the Americas Championship: "I'm very excited to have the opportunity to play with the best in Canada because I love to compete at the highest level."